Clothing and textiles drop off bin - EcoSuperior Parking Lot Red River Road - (CJ Goater/Acadia Broadcasting)

EcoSuperior has partnered with a Chapleau-based Indigenous-owned startup company to help increase access to textile recycling in Thunder Bay.

Sic Sox Circular Ltd. offers a unique textile recycling program that aims to divert unusable textiles from landfills by recycling them into usable materials.

“In Canada, we send an estimated 500 million kilograms of textile waste to landfills every year, where it will sit without decomposing for hundreds of years,” said ReThinking Waste Coordinator for EcoSuperior Kennedy Bucci. “Diverting this material for re-sale or recycling it into usable materials will have tremendous benefits for the environment.

The program accepts the following items:

• Household and industrial textiles in all conditions
• Bedding, towels, and pillows in all conditions
• Clothing in all conditions
• Gently used shoes and handbags
• Stuffed animal toys

Once collected, textiles are brought back to Sic Sox Circular headquarters in Brunswick House First Nation where the volume will be weighed and sorted.

Gently used donations will be cleaned and resold online on Sic Sox’s website or through their thrift store in Chapleau.

Material that cannot be reused is diverted to a shredder to break the textiles down into usable fibres.

In Sic Sox’s pilot year, the goal is to turn the fibres into an industry-approved housing insulation product.

The recycling location can be found in EcoSuperior’s parking lot at 562 Red River Road.

Businesses and individuals with larger donations can arrange a pick-up directly with Sic Sox.